text:
RTI Commission to launch website to facilitate applicants
Access to Information, New Media
PESHAWAR: The Federal Right To Information (RTI) Commission will shortly launch its official website to facilitate the general public to file applications online for obtaining information from government departments.
Federal Chief Information Commissioner, Muhammad Azam, said this while addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday. He was flanked by Commissioner Legal RTI, Fawad Malik, Federal Information Commissioner, Zahid Abdullah, Information Commissioner KP, Riaz Khan Daudzai and CGPA Executive Director, Anwar Khan.
Muhammad Azam said the work was underway to make the public approach the RTI easily. He said for that website would be launched next week. The official said application filing procedure was still much easier and any citizen who wanted to get any information about any government department could approach RTI through an application on plain paper.
He said the RTI officials had been directed to accept verbal applications as well in case if the applicant was illiterate. Muhammad Azam said the Right of Access to Information Act 2017 was a landmark achievement and hoped it would strengthen democracy and ensure good governance. He said the Right of Access to Information Act was passed in 2017 and within two years the ranking of Pakistan about its implementation among 130 countries stood at 32.
Under the law, he explained, every citizen had the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulations and law. RTI Commissioner Legal, Fawad Malik, said awareness about the law was required for educating masses about the facility provided by the government to ensure basic human rights and transparent, genuine democracy in the country.
The official said the mindset of public sector departments was needed to be changed in the provision of information to the general masses. Riaz Daudzai, Commissioner Information KP, said the KP led other provinces in enacting the same law in 2013 under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf provincial government, adding the law had empowered people and made officials accountable, said. He urged the journalists to use RTI for the incorporation of information in investigative stories which not also made their writes up more credible.
He said the law was helpful for investigative journalists who seek authentic information that would ensure accurate information to the public besides discourage news based on speculations and sensationalism.
Riaz Daudzai said no official department was exempted from the RTI Act even the commissioner is receiving applications seeking information from judicial departments.
He told newsmen that KP RTI Commissioner had received 15,150 applications to date of which information was provided to 8,681 applicants and 6,398 requests are converted into complaints.
The official said 6,086 complaints were addressed by the commission which came out to be 97 per cent of the total complaints whereas 312 were under process. Sharing data about gender segregation of applications, 388 applications are filed by female and 6010 by the male.
Information Commissioner Zahid Abdullah said within ten days of the filing of the application, RTI would respond to the applicant after getting a reply from the concerned department. He said in case there is no reply from the department, RTI will take action over filing of appeal by the applicant.
The official urged media men to spread awareness about RTI and its role through which people can get all kind of information about any the developmental project, performance of government departments and other relevant issues.
APP adds: Addressing a seminar at the Institute of Management Sciences in Hayatabad, Chief Information Commissioner, Right to Information Commission, Muhammad Azam termed the Right of Access to Information Act 2017 a landmark step for strengthening democracy, eliminating corruption and for good governance.
He said the law was based on the Islamic concept of governance and would ensure transparency and merit in all development projects of public welfare, adding the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees all basic human rights including freedom of speech, opinion and expressions.
The official, however, said that support of government departments was imperative for provision of quick information to citizens within the stipulated time period.
The News International


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On a day when the only thing bigger than the snowflakes is the deep gray loneliness of the sky, I bring you a minuscule chunk of one of my favorite Christmas gifts.
My wife, Erin, has a thing for finding the perfect book to send me off on my April exploration of the Bahamian backwoods. Normally, when I unpack the mystery book from my jumbled bag on board a sailboat anchored on Andros Island, I delight in the pen-sloppy scribblings just inside the front cover. Last year it was Pablo Neruda. What will this Spring bring? Someday perhaps I'll do a post on those messages. Though parts, to be sure, will stay private forever for me.
Today's words for winter: by Galway Kinnell. You (and I) can thank some nifty old guy on the east coast for this book. He knows who he is too. I'm glad Erin reads his blog as well, for she is an excellent gift-giver.
This verse is from A New Selected Poems from Galway Kinnell. I feel OK about posting the words to this poem here in hopes that it will gain a larger readership. I will, of course, retract if ever asked.
We humans do create fires here on Earth. We create warmth in a universe where, aside from stars, cold is the norm.
Amazing words here. Poetry compared to language is the inverse of DNA compared to a tree frog. While poetry can be seen as shiny distillation of our daily talk, biochemicals tell little of the quickness of life.
Artwork thanks: Cemetery Angel from Adam Selwood on Flickr.


This is the third part on flowers of Japan! This time it's alittle different, with names from Violet Evergarden 『ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン』. Below you find links to the first two parts.
The Japanese especially loved violets in the past, and named them 'sumire' after their shape. In fact, the flower looks like an ink (sumi) container. Violets are popular because it's found almost anywhere; moreover, there are more varieties in Japan than in any other country. Since the meaning of violet is sincerity, love, bliss, they are in demand as gifts. It's a nice way to let friends and family know that you care about them, and to share a promise with your beloved. Violets are found in many Japanese poems and poetry.
A bush from the Assam province in India, Luculia has pink or white flowers and blooms in fall. A variety known as Assam nioizakura (アッサムニオイザクラ) is popular in Japan for its sweet scent; moreover, some compare it to the scent of cherry blossoms, others to that of jasmine. The most popular variety, however, is more similar to gardenia. Luculia cultivation needs very special care. You can find a paper-ish version as an origami.
Originating from southern America, this flower belongs to the orchids family. It takes its name from William Cattley, a British merchant and horticulturist. And it was the British who brought cattleya in Japan during the Meiji period. The color of the flowers ranges from white to deep purple. There are about forty varieties of cattleya; the most popular in Japan is the hinoderan (ひのでらん). This flowers are principally used for ornamental purpose and are associated with the allure of aging, especially for women.
Considered to be the symbol of May and found in the hana karuta (花かるた) game, iris blooms in late spring or mid summer. Since the Edo period, iris is also a symbol for Children's Day; in fact, in the past the main celebration was a mock duel where children used irises insted of swords. Iris is a famous motif for paintings and fabrics. Iris has an origami version too. Moreover, Ayame is a fairly common feminine name in Japan.
A flower originating from Brazil, in Japan bougainvillea can be found in Okinawa. It's a popular flower to be used in gardens for its vivid colors; there are five Japanese varieties, whose colors range from white, to pale pink, to orange and violet. Bougainvillea means allure and passion. Last but not least. The Bougainville Campaign is a series of battles the Allies and Japan fought in the Pacific during WWII.


Casa Cantil is equipped with state-of-the-art systems.
The media room has a Bose home theater with a 52″ high-definition television, an AppleTV, and a Blu-Ray player, all neatly controlled by a Harmony 1100 remote.
You don't need to bring DVDs as the AppleTV is basically a Blockbuster store in a box. You can choose from thousands of movies and TV shows to play on demand.
There is a Sonos multi-room music system, which lets you select from 10 million songs via iPod-like controls. You can plug in your portable music player if you wish but most guests find that the Sonos is fun. It's an internet-enabled jukebox that lets you summon up any song you can think of within seconds. With speakers throughout the property, you can listen to Maria Callas in the living room while your kids blast Ke$ha around the pool.
There is wireless internet throughout the property and an office is available for guest use.
There is also a stunning pool with a true infinity edge. The pool has a walled-off shallow area that's ideal for young children. The pool can be heated for a fee.
We have three fireplaces: in the living room, media room, and master bedroom.
All beds have fine linens with down pillows and comforters. There is also a fully equipped baby room with crib and changing area.
Breakfasts are included and comidas are offered for a nominal fee while dinners can usually be arranged with some advance notice. We do not offer a self-catering option as our staff operates the kitchen as in a hotel.
The Casa Cantil staff offers basic concierge services and can arrange restaurant reservations, in-room massages, private on-site yoga classes, babysitting, paragliding, and airport transfers.


text:
AMA Racing
Three in a Row for Andrew Hines.
Re: Three in a Row for Matt Hines
Congrats, dude!
Rob Priday
Horsepower is an illusory mathmatical equation; Torque is Real, and is the source of all good things in the world.
bbtowns
Re: Three in a Row for Matt Hines.
Don't you mean three in a row for Andrew Hines? Admittedly Matt did it too, but that was 5 years ago.
What kind of man can abandon his family like that?
Seriously, who is he, I'd like lessons.
It's a stacked deck for the V-Rod.. i.e. NOT FAIR
"A pushrod V-Twin engine can be 160 cubic inches while the inline 4-cylinder power plant in Brown's Suzuki can't be more than 92.
All of the Harleys and Buells have state-of-the-art fuel injection systems. Brown's crew has to work with four old-fashioned carburetors.
The V-Twin bikes can be equipped with two huge mailbox-sized air scoops. Steve Tartaglia, Brown's crew chief, said as he understands the rules, air scoops on a Pro Stock Motorcycle can only be used if they fit up and under the gas tank where they aren't visible. It's hard not to notice the ones used on a Harley V-Rod or a Buell."
read more at Spinning His Wheels
Joined Gabe's witness protection plan..under a new identity.. many thanks to Gabe John Burns for the help.
Letting the GPTB moderate is like having Fox News run the white house.
Gotta love the drag racing crybabies. Here's the history of what all the crybabies said about the drag racing V-Rod:
Crybaby said: "They'll never qualify that thing!"
Then it qualified.
Crybaby said: "They'll never make a final with that thing!"
Then it made the finals.
Crybaby said: "They'll never win a race with that thing!"
Then it won a race.
Crybaby said: "That thing will never last a season!"
Then it won a championship.
Crybaby said: "No fair! The rules are stacked!"
The ONLY time the crybabies said anything about the rules is AFTER the championship was won. Now we hear the sweet sound of the whining and crying about the rules. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The rules are stacked. That isn't an opinion that is fact. A 74% advantage in displacement. Plus Fuel injection. No wonder the AMA doesn't sanction it.
Buzglyd
The 2nd place Suzuki only finished 23 points behind so it appears they've got the formula pretty close.
It's amusing when they discover that for once the rules aren't stacked in their favor. Yeah. I laugh at the displacement nazis.
Setting racing categories by the amount of air the engine pumps is the only logical and fair way to do it.
Huh? Can you elaborate for those of us who dont feel like going to howstuff works.com again?
You beat me to it boru4761.. Excellent Point.
boru4761, seruzawa is the same guy that says cruisers have better brakes than sport bikes.. Give us Facts and Data seruzawa. That doesn't mean quotes from Fred or MCN..
A multicyclinder engine spins faster than one with fewer cylinders. This is why a 750-4 makes more power then a 750 twin. It pumps more fuel mixture. You can calculate how much each engine type pumps and have engines that make similar power compete against each other. As a result you can have more competitors for each category. In drag racing then you get larger displacement twins competing against smaller multis, but each makes similar power. This evens the field quite nicely.
Actually this is BS. if you read the article I linked you would read that even horsepower (the standard measurement ) is more for the V-Twins and Torque as well. Following you rules we would have 1740 cc V-Twins racing 1000cc In-line 4 bikes in WSB and AMA superbike. Fortunately the AMA only allows Harley BS in only Formula Extreme. You and I both know that the Drag racing thing is to draw harley good old boys to the track. They can't do it if the Suzuki's are allowed to race even with their production bikes i.e fuel injection Hyabusa for instance..
Seruzawa you are just plain wrong.
"By design, he said, the engine in a Suzuki is much more efficient than a V-Twin, and would be able to smoke a Harley or Buell in every race had the NHRA said both had to be 92 cubic inches.
When a bigger engine is used, he said, it needs more air, hence the need for the big scoops on the side of the bike."" From Spinning his wheels
Yeah, but the H-D won. The crying is so loud on drag racing sites you can hear it all the way from Seattle to San Diego. Just put your ear to the window.......
Won't matter I'll race you on your Busa. i.e I'll give you a 100% plus displacement advantage.
The biggest factor in drag racing (and powerboat racing, for that matter) is keeping the machine together. If you can't make the run with full power, you don't win. Avoiding fouls is also a biggy, but that is not a technical problem.
I haven't seen those guys run, but watching the top fuel bikes at the AMA Prostar a couple of years ago in Gainesville, hoo-whee!
The v-twins literally shook the ground! The 'Zooks won, because the 2 v-twin entries (and several of the 'Zooks) either red-lighted or broke.
Then there were the Puerto Ricans, with their drag Quads!
And on the dragstrip(thre topic of this thread),you'd lose. The 600 SHOULD win on a rroad race track......
Thanks for making my point.
And lets not forget; when the NHRA perceived (last year) that the Vtwins had an unfair advantage they changed rules in midseason. Anyone who has been around dragracing(cars or bikes) for any length of time knows that NHRA has as a priority diversity in the classes and constantly changes rules. Bike prostock was dying when suzukis were dominating and the vtwins have brought a needed interest and breath of fresh air to the class. Thats what NHRA needed and they could care less what "experts" who have never been to a dragrace and likely never will think. If they perceive Vtwins are dominating to the point of hurting the classand a rule change is neede...believe me,theyll do it. In the late 60's and early 70's you wouldnt believe the shennanigans(mostly unsuccessful) pulled to keep Ford and Chevycompetitive with the Hemis in Prostock. While some thought it was unfair it elevated Prostock to one of the most supported classes on NHRA.
silentgrayfellow Nov 15, 2006

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tohby Riddle is an Australian artist and writer/illustrator of picture books and illustrated books that have been published in many countries, and translated into many languages, around the world. His work has been translated by Haruki Murakami and he has been nominated for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Medal.

Riddle's picture books include The Great Escape from City Zoo, The Royal Guest, Nobody Owns the Moon, My Uncle's Donkey and Unforgotten. Other books include The Greatest Gatsby: a visual book of grammar, the Word Spy books written by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Riddle, the novel The Lucky Ones, and two cartoon collections, What's the Big Idea? and Pink Freud. The cartoon collections are selected from his work as the weekly cartoonist for Good Weekend magazine (Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's Age), a position he held for nearly ten years from 1997–2006.

In 2005 he became editor of The School Magazine, a literary magazine for children founded in 1916, in which his illustrations, non-fiction pieces and poems have also appeared regularly. In 2009 he won the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards with Ursula Dubosarsky for their book The Word Spy.

In 2018, Riddle's book My Uncle's Donkey was translated into a Japanese edition by one of the world's greatest living writers Haruki Murakami after Mr Murakami discovered the book in a Melbourne bookshop on a visit to Australia. This edition was published in December 2018 by Asunaro Shobo.

In December 2020 Riddle was nominated by Australia for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

As an artist, Riddle's paintings have continued to gain a following since a sell-out show in 2018. A large solo exhibition, titled Silent Light, is scheduled for January 15–February 27 2022 at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, in Katoomba, NSW, Australia.

List of books
Careful With that Ball, Eugene! (1989, US 1991, UK 1991)
A Most Unusual Dog (1992, US 1993)
Arnold Z Jones Could Really Play the Trumpet (1993, reprinted 2000)
The Royal Guest (1993)
50 Fairies You Ought to Know About (1995, Germany 2004)
The Tip at the End of the Street (1996).  IBBY Australia Ena Noel encouragement award for Children's Literature; Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book 1997
The Great Escape from City Zoo (1997, US 1999). Shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 1998, and the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards 1999
The Singing Hat (2000, US 2001). Honour book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year awards for 2001; Joint winner of the Wilderness Society of Australia's Environment Award 2001, Picture Books category; Australian Publishers Association Design Awards, 2000, winner of Best Designed Children's Cover; Highly commended in Best Designed Children's Picture Book category; Commended in the Best Designed Jacket of the Year category
What's the Big Idea? (2003) Highly commended in the Australian Publishers Association Design Awards for 2003, in the Best Designed Illustrated Book category
Irving the Magician (2005) Shortlist, 2006 Picture Book of the Year, Children's Book Council of Australia
The Great Escape from City Zoo (2007, reissue)
Dog and Bird See the Moon (2007)
The Royal Guest (2007, reissue)
Nobody Owns the Moon (2008) Shortlisted, NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Shortlisted, Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year awards for 2009
The Word Spy (2008, with Ursula Dubosarsky). Winner, Patricia Wrightson Prize, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, 2009; Honour Book, Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2009, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards
The Lucky Ones (2009)
Return of the Word Spy (2010, with Ursula Dubosarsky). Winner, Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2009, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards
My Uncle's Donkey (2010) Picture Book of the Year 2011, Honour award, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards
Unforgotten (2012) Shortlisted, NSW Premier's Literary awards
The Greatest Gatsby: a visual book of grammar (2015) Shortlisted, NSW Premier's Literary awards; Shortlisted, Prime Minister's Literary Awards; Selected as a White Raven, International Youth Library, Germany
Milo: a moving story (2016)
Here Comes Stinkbug! (2018) Honour Book, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards
Yahoo Creek: an Australian mystery (2019) Shortlisted,  Eve Pownall Book of the Year, Children's Book Council of Australia Awards; Finalist, Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work, Aurealis Awards 2019
Nobody Owns the Moon (2019, 10th anniversary reissue)
The Astronaut's Cat (2020) Longlisted, Best Designed Children's Illustrated Book, Australian Book Design Awards 2021
The March of the Ants (2021, with Ursula Dubosarsky)

References

External links

Profile at Penguin Books Australia.

Australian cartoonists
Living people
Australian children's book illustrators
Australian children's writers
20th-century Australian writers
20th-century Australian artists
20th-century Australian male writers
21st-century Australian writers
21st-century Australian artists
21st-century Australian male writers
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Pawel Borodin ist der Name folgender Personen:

* Pawel Walerjewitsch Borodin (* 1972), russischer Bogenbiathlet
 Pawel Pawlowitsch Borodin (* 1946), russischer Politiker


박태희, 이경희,(2014).청소년의 부모애착, 또래애착 및 우울이 자아존중감에 미치는 영향.한국간호교육학회지,20(3),353-361.
Purpose: This study aimed to provide the baseline data for improving self-esteem under the influences of parental and peer attachment and depression in adolescents. Methods: The data were collected from 200 middle and high school students in D metropolitan city by completing questionnaires from August 19 to August 30, 2013. Results: The results of this study were as follows: The self-esteem was significantly different in academic grades, father's education level and economic status in adolescents. The relation of the variables to self-esteem by the statistical power in order was depression, peer attachment and parental attachment. The more the subjects were depressed, the more self-esteem dropped. The better parental and peer attachment, and household socio-economic status, the higher self-esteem was. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed the level of parental and peer attachment and depression, which explained 38% of the total variance in self-esteem. Conclusion: Adolescents who had high self-esteem could reduce their depression and form good parental and peer attachment that would prevent them from being maladjusted. These results will affect the various activities of adolescent. Therefore, the way in which adolescents can improve their self-esteem should be found.


Writer and artist Amelia Bande will offer an outdoor musical lecture at Maya Lin's 2007-08 earthwork Storm King Wavefield. This program was developed as a project called Walk Writing undertaken during Bande's 2016 residency at The Shandaken Project at Storm King. Long walks produced a series of audio-text meditations on politics, art, and friendships, intertwined with reflections about the Storm King landscape and the sculptural works of the Art Center.
Amelia Bande is a Chilean writer working in performance, theater, and film. Her plays Chueca and Partir y Renunciar were staged in Santiago, Chile. She is part of the Gel Film Series, writing scripts for the group's animations and film installations (2012- present), co-founder of Publishing Puppies, a press for visual work, poetry and fiction (2011-present), and works with No Total (2016-present). She has recently shown work, solo and collaborative, at Artists Space, The Poetry Project, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Dixon Place, BAM, The Shandaken Project, and MIX NYC in New York; NGBK and Flutgraben Kunstfabrik in Berlin; and the NewBridge Project in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.


text:
Jobs In Cameroon
U.S. Has No Interest in Intervention in Cameroon
Cameroon Report – YAOUNDE
The U.S. Embassy categorically has denied the assertions in recent fake news stories claiming that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft recently announced alleged U.S. intentions regarding a supposed military intervention in Cameroon, according to a statement.
"The United States has no such interest or intention. Ambassador Craft did not comment about Cameroon in the recent time periods indicated in the stories and she has never stated or implied that the United States would consider military intervention of any nature in Cameroon.
"Ambassador Craft, along with other U.S. officials, has occasionally raised concerns about humanitarian needs and human rights violations and abuses in Cameroon.
"Similarly, contrary to claims in recent fake news stories, neither the U.S. Senate nor the full U.S. Congress have held debate on, or taken any action to approve, any U.S. intervention in Cameroon.
"While members of the U.S. Senate introduced a non-binding resolution on September 7 expressing concern about human rights violations in Cameroon and calling for an end to violence, the resolution did not call for intervention. Therefore, there is no decision awaiting the President's approval.
"Finally, there have been no stories published by U.S. news outlets to support the claims of these fake stories. With respect to the Anglophone crisis, as a friend and partner of Cameroon, the position of the United States remains constant.
"We call on both sides to the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest to abjure further violence and to enter into an open-ended dialogue without pre-conditions," according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde.
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Bonnet Bra designed specifically for the Mk6 Golf. Tight professional fit. Protects your paintwork from stonechips and road salt.
Ideal for trackdays where damage can often occur or just on the poor british roads! Or just for the Euro look.


text:
A Conservatism of Hope
Conservative Credo
Essays by Senior Contributors
Rooted in Imaginative Conservatism
American Republic
American Founding
Did Sweden's Coronavirus Strategy Succeed or Fail?
By Stephen Brady|2020-07-24T16:31:45-05:00July 26th, 2020|Categories: Coronavirus, Death, England, Europe|
If lockdowns worked, we would expect Sweden, which did not impose one, to top the mortality table, and for the pandemic curve to have risen exponentially, as predicted by the notorious Imperial College model. This predicted that without a lockdown Sweden would have 44,000 dead by now. But Sweden's actual figure is not nearly that large.
Did Sweden's coronavirus strategy succeed or fail? This is the question asked by the BBC on its News website on 24th July.[1]
The answer, despite the best efforts of the BBC, which during this pandemic has degenerated into a supine propaganda arm supporting the autocratic lockdown imposed by the British government, is quite obviously, from its own article, that it has succeeded.
A look at the graph of mortality confirms this. It is exactly the same shape as that everywhere else has where the infection has been active as long, regardless of lockdowns: a skewed bell curve, tapering away as we approach the present. This shows unambiguously that this decline in cases, and deaths, is nothing to do with lockdowns.
The article, as lockdowners tend to do when confronted with the awkward fact of Sweden, brandishes at length the red herring of lower mortality per capita in Norway and Denmark. Such a comparison ignores the crucial fact that Norway and Denmark lack the large urban sprawls of Greater Stockholm, Malmo, and Gothenberg, where the overwhelming majority of Swedes live. This misleading comparison also avoids all mention of the embarrassing fact of higher mortality per head in other European countries which locked down harshly.
A look at the figures, generally regarded as authoritative and as accurate as are available, on the Worldometer and Johns Hopkins University websites is most illuminating.[2]
As of July 24, Sweden has 55.74 deaths/100,000 population, according to the Johns Hopkins figures, compared with 58.7 in Italy, 60.84 in Spain and 68.64 in Britain, all countries which imposed draconian nationwide lockdowns. Belgium, which locked down early and hard, has 85.9 deaths/100k.
It is worthy of note that Belgium's neighbour, the Netherlands, had less than half its mortality rate, at 35.74, even though Belgium locked down earlier and harder than Holland. As with Sweden and Norway, this difference is more likely to reflect demographic, geographic, and social differences between neighbouring countries rather than the value, or otherwise, of lockdowns.
Incidentally, the real outlier is Germany, at 10.99, although Germany did not lock down any harder than any other European country, and notably less so than its neighbour France (45.6). Whatever Germany did right, it has nothing to do with lockdowns.
If lockdowns worked, we would expect Sweden, which did not impose one, to top the mortality table, and for the pandemic curve to have risen exponentially, as predicted by the notorious Imperial College model. This predicted that without a lockdown Sweden would have 44,000 dead by now, rather than the actual figure as of July 24 of 5,676.
Significantly, about half, possibly more, of the COVID deaths in Sweden were nothing to do with the question of lockdowns. There, as in Britain and certain US states, they were caused by decanting infected old people from hospitals into care homes in the panic to avoid health systems "being overwhelmed" (which never happened there or here). As Helena Nordenstedt, clinical epidemiologist and researcher in global health, is reported as saying in the BBC article, "The strategy was to flatten the curve, not overwhelm health care capacity. That seems to have worked. If you take care homes out of the equation, things actually look much brighter."
Additionally, in Sweden, if not in the UK, old people sick with COVID who could have recovered were, it appears, denied treatment and so died needlessly because old people with this disease were not admitted to hospitals, again because it was feared, again wrongly on the basis of panicky "models," that there was insufficient capacity. As this article reveals, younger patients were prioritised and older ones left needlessly to die.[3]
It was this, not failing to lock down, that Anders Tegnell, the Chief Epidemiologist to whom Sweden's politicians widely handed over policy in the pandemic, has repeatedly said he regrets. This is tendentiously reported, again and again, as Dr. Tegnell "regretting Sweden's no-lockdown policy," whereas he has made it clear that he harbours no such regrets.
The BBC report notes that the Swedish economy has shrunk, without balancing this by noting that it has done so by much less than those countries which shut down their economies through lockdown, nor does it acknowledge that the impact on the Swedish economy is a knock-on result of the economic implosion of the lockdown countries. Swedish exports from companies such as Volvo, Scania, and Saab could hardly escape the consequences of the collective lockdown of the countries with which they do business.
The BBC article fails to mention that the Swedish government has not put future generations of its people in debt by borrowing vast sums to pay its workforce not to work, nor maimed the prospects of its children by shutting the nation's schools. Furthermore, it has not ruined the businesses and livelihoods of tens or hundreds of thousands of small-business people, nor put millions of its people out of work. While the benefits of lockdowns are still, at best, unclear, the dire and long-lasting costs are becoming more unambiguously evident by the day.
Also, of course, Sweden has nothing to fear from a "second wave" of the virus. Indeed Sweden—and possibly other countries—may well have achieved a level of herd immunity which is already suppressing the virus. Why else is it dying away now when nothing has changed in terms of policy in Sweden since March?
As Dr. Tegnell rightly observes, "this is a marathon, not a sprint." When the pandemic is eventually over, Sweden, on the evidence so far, will emerge as a clear winner. If this is so, Britain's Boris Johnson and other leaders across the West who have cast aside their peoples' hard-won civil liberties and imposed on them an unprecedented tyranny, trashing not only their freedom but their prosperity, will have some difficult questions to answer.
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[1] The article is available here.
[2] See Worldometer and Johns Hopkins University.
[3] Maddy Savage, "Coronavirus: What's going wrong in Sweden's care homes?," BBC News (May 2020).
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About the Author: Stephen Brady
Stephen Brady, a zoology graduate from Imperial College, London, is a retired high school science teacher and IT manager.
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Ed Petersen Aug 2, 2020 at 12:21 pm - Reply
Sadly, the lockdowns had little to do with "flattening the curve" and more to do with big government's almost insatiable desire to control every little detail of their subjects' lives.
With the Wuhan virus in full retreat In most jurisdictions in Canada, for example, we are now seeing a rash of municipal government councils, almost in lock-step, imposing mandatory mask ordinances.. This despite the lack of convincing evidence that non-medical masks have any significant effect on reducing the spread of the virus. Wearing a mask has simply become a "government compliance litmus test" to determine how many restrictions on our freedoms our supine, ill-educated populace Is prepared to endure at the hands of "our betters".
From my own. observations in my home city, our subservience to the elites has progressed exponentially in the last five months.
Scott Gamble Aug 6, 2020 at 2:14 pm - Reply
I have become increasingly disillusioned with the lockdowns as well, but I don't share the opinion that it is the fault of power hungry politicians seeking to strip our civil liberties from us. Having a good number of connections in politics, I assume the bulk of politicians to be neither intelligent or dramatic enough to orchestrate such a fantastic feat, but that they are also generally well-intentioned in their policy and legislative decisions.
The guilty culprit, in my estimation, for the widespread use of lockdowns as the "only means" of preventing the spread of the coronavirus, seems to be the advice and modelling of epidemiologists and public health officials, which no one seems to be talking about. My provincial government, like most in Canada, reluctantly relayed the models of disease spread they were working with to make decisions. These models suggested that if we did everything right (lived in strict lock down for a lengthy time), we would still be seeing a quarter of our population infected with the coronavirus in the span of a 6 weeks, with many thousands of people dead (sorry I didn't go and look up the actual numbers, but I remember being totally terrified at what they were projecting). If we did a poor to medium job of following public health guidelines, models predicted well over half of our population would be infected within 6 weeks, and tens of thousands of people would be dead.
Now, were these scare tactics to justify draconian government policy? I don't think so. I think the government took these numbers on good faith from the appropriate medical professionals, who in turn believed that they had made fair and reasonable calculations about the spread of the disease. What isn't a topic of discussion that I'm hearing, is the fact that these numbers were incredibly out to lunch. Something went wrong in the modelling and calculations of medical professionals, which then caused a chain reaction of decisions that had massive implications for our people, cities, provinces, states, and countries. But no one is talking about this, at least not in public discourse.
I sincerely hope epidemiologists are taking a long hard look at their modeling, and admitting that their best was not good enough, and that people will (and should) think long and hard about basing sweeping policy decisions (or any policy decisions) on their calculations and modeling when the next pandemic rolls around. Unless I hear of honest and repentant reflection coming from this portion of the scientific community, I will be loathe to trust this kind of information in the future (much to my own dismay!).
Oh, and I also have a rant about public health officials and their extreme bias towards highly overly protective measures, and why would we let this type of mind make the bulk of these decisions without a healthy critical check in place –but I'll save that for another day.
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text:
const domTreeHelpers = (() => {
    function showElementsWith(container, selector, predicate) {
        const elements = $(container).find(selector);
        if (elements.length === 0) {
            return;
        }

        _.forEach(elements, el => {
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                $(el).css('display', '');
            } else {
                $(el).css('display', 'none');
            }
        });
    }

    function hideElementsWith(container, selector, predicate) {
        const elements = $(container).find(selector);
        if (elements.length === 0) {
            return;
        }

        _.forEach(elements, el => {
            if (predicate(el)) {
                $(el).css('display', 'none');
            } else {
                $(el).css('display', '');
            }
        });
    }

    // Sample sorting predicate.
    //
    // const predicate = (el) => {
    //     const username = $(el).find('#username').html();
    //     return username;
    // };
    function orderElementsBy(container, selector, predicate) {
        const elements = $(container).find(selector);
        if (elements.length === 0) {
            return;
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        elements.remove();
        $(container).append(sortedElements);
    }

    return {
        showElementsWith,
        hideElementsWith,
        orderElementsBy
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})();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Recovering from Google's Fred Update: Was Your Site Affected?
This blog post was updated on July 27th to reflect new information regarding the "Fred" update.
Around March 9th, Google rolled out their "Fred" update. In typical Google fashion, the update came out with no warning or notice, however it was significant enough for digital marketers and website owners to notice the substantial change in traffic and organic rankings. The Fred update has been reported to cause fluctuations in rankings and loss of site traffic by 50% to 90% for sites affected. In addition, a recent poll conducted by Search Engine Roundtable found that 44.2% of website were impacted in some way by the Fred update.
Since we first wrote about the "Fred" update, there have been some notable changes and confirmations to the information we originally speculated. During a Google hangout session with John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google said that "from our point of view, there was no Fred update." This came after Google had officially confirmed the release of the Fred update back in March. However, what he was referring to was the name "Fred" itself, which was not given by Google but instead by external SEOs. Mueller went on to say that the update was not the case of one change in search, but rather Google makes SEO changes all the time.
While Google has confirmed the roll out of the Fred update, as per usual, they've been tight-lipped with any information about it. Based on our research here at Boomtown, we have determined this update primarily targeted websites with low-quality content and unnatural, spammy backlinks.
What are low quality content and backlinks? How can you determine if your website was affected by Fred? Most importantly, what can you do to recover from the Fred update? Here's everything you need to know about Google's most recent update.
What Does the Fred Update Penalize?
The second factor targeted by Fred were low-quality backlinks. Your site may have been penalized, if you've ever paid for generic backlinks. Low quality content and bad backlink seem to go hand in hand. So, if your website has a lot of old content, you must likely have low quality, spammy backlinks. Bad backlink typically come from unrelated, untrusted sources that don't abide by Google's Webmaster Guidelines. For more information about determining what a good/back backlink is, check out my recent blog post.
The easiest way to determine if your website was hit by the Fred update is by looking at Google Analytics. Was there a drop in your traffic or ranking keywords between March 5th and the 20th? If no, your site is mostly like unaffected.
Google's Fred Update is the newest update, compared to Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird. So, it has taken some time to understand the full impact it has on sites. In order to recover from Google's updates, or better yet, not be affected by them at all, it's critical to adopt good habits that promote userability, unique content, and stay up to date on the latest SEO standards rather than solely focusing on recovering from the update at hand. Focusing on quality over quantity and providing answers and solutions for users will help you rectify any penalties from a Google update.
Thin or low content was a major target for the Fred update. If your site has pages containing thin content, taking the time to revise, refresh and improve these pages to make them more valuable to users will help build back your rankings and traffic. Start by determining the keywords you lost rankings/traffic on by comparing the traffic pre-update to post-update. From there, match these keywords up with any low-quality content on your site and use these pages as a starting point. Here are my top two suggestions to consider when building out content that was targeted by Fred.
While high word counts do not necessarily correlate with great content, the higher the word count, the more detailed information there will be. Pages that tend to rank on the first page of search results are those with typically higher word counts consisting of the most relevant and original content.
In addition to content, your site's backlink profile also plays a significant role in your search rankings. It's also possible that the Fred update may have penalized your site as a result of low-quality backlinks. For this reason, it's critical to regularly assess your backlinks to find and disavow any links that seem potentially harmful. Third party tools like Ahrefs make it easier to determine the quality of a site. As I previously mentioned, it's always best practice to abide by Google Webmaster Guidelines when it comes to linking.
As always there's no simple, clearly defined solution to reverse a Google algorithm penalty of traffic and ranking loss. Successful SEO takes continual strategizing, monitoring and ongoing effort. My approach to getting around Google updates is to focus less on the algorithms changes and more on consistently improving user experience, relevance, and quality content in every detail.
If you believe your website was penalized as a result of Google's Fred update and need help recovering lost traffic and ranking, we can help! Contact us today for more information.


text:
Q: Moving individual team sites to Sharepoint 2013 We are looking to migrate our 2010 Environment to a 2013 and wanted to test the process for upgrading with a sample team site to start. Is there an easy way to migrate ONLY one of many team sites from SharePoint Foundation 2010 to 2013?
EDIT:
I am looking to be able to move 1 Team Site, with a url of say
http://sharepoint.com/TeamSite
The reason for this is that all the sites were configured under the Central Admin Site (not me, people before me), which obviously is a bad configuration. Because of this, all the content for these sites is in the AdminContent DB. Is there an easy way to just take a subsite and map it, or do you need to bring the whole collection?

A: If this is a site collection, the easiest way would be to move it into it's own database using the Move-SPSite and then upgrade that database.
If you do not want to impact production database arrangement you can restore a backup to test/dev 2010 farm and perform the move there and then upgrade the database to 2013.
Keep in mind that the default auth method has changed from classic in 2010 to claims in 2013

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Come Out and Play Ball!!
The distracting steroid scandal presents a golden opportunity for a gay baseball player to come out of the closet
(published in Baltimore OUTloud and OUTSPORTS.com)
The greening of the grass and the budding on the trees, the talkative birds and the emergence of hibernating daffodils all signal the start of new baseball season. But the run-up to the first pitch ceremonies has been dominated by the revelations that major leaguers in uncertain numbers have used steroids.
The House Committee on Government Oversight did their thing with a theatrical hearing, which gave the appearance that if baseball doesn't fix the steroid problem, Congress would act. Following the testimonies by the current and former players as well as representatives of Major League Baseball and the Players Association, it is assured that the cloud of steroids is going to hover over the baseball season that is about to launch.
With all the distraction of the steroids problem, it would seem that now may be the right time for one of the gay major leaguers to come out of the closet and, well, be a man. You ask why add more controversy to a season that will be remembered more for finger pointing and suspicion than any home run chase? Why upset the nation's fans who are already disappointed in their heroes?
The answer is simple: being gay, being true to yourself, and being up front about it is in no way comparable to players who cheated using illegal substances to achieve individual records and then had become the beneficiaries of more lucrative contracts.
By contrasting the self-outing of a gay ballplayer with one who has been found to have used anabolic steroids, the outcome for the gay player in terms of acceptance appears to have a reasonable chance for success. Which is worse, a baseball player sleeping with another man when he goes home at night following a game or one who injects another's butt with an illegal, banished and dangerous substance that artificially gives a player an advantage over the "play-by-the rules types"? Will the gay player "steal" the home run title simply for being gay? No. (But it would be nice though.)
Let's be clear about it, there are gay players in the major leagues. Mark McGwire basically said as much during his sobbing testimony when he proudly proclaimed his own indifference to "sexual preference." Why would he make such a remark unless he knows of players whose sexual "preference" needs to be, um, ignored?
Set aside for a moment the controversial political discourse surrounding same-sex marriage, red states, blue states, religious extremists, etc. A professional athlete who openly admits he's gay would send a colossal message to the denizens of the U.S. that it is OK to be gay and that he can perform in his job effectively. It would also set the stage for other athletes to do likewise.
As I've opined before, it would take Jackie Robinson-like courage to make such a move—as it was Robinson who broke the barrier of baseball's institutional racism in 1947. Robinson specifically had the make-up in his heart and soul, not to mention guts, to withstand the threats and the taunts of teammates, opponents and fans all over. He not only endured he became a Hall of Famer.
No other male professional athlete has come out of the closet while he is actively playing. A couple of former baseball and football players have come out once they retired. Billy Bean (pictured) was the most recent baseball player who came out after his playing days ended. He remains a gay activist.
Baseball is ripe for it; it's essentially a non-contact sport that focuses more on individual skills than teamwork. One can be gay and play shortstop while his homophobic left fielder can only look in on him with wonder between pitches. And hyped up fears of sexual assaults in the locker room and showers are pure nonsense, and most everyone knows that. Athletes aren't that stupid.
Still, each baseball club undoubtedly has a John Rocker-type homophobe or three in its midst. That's a problem that needs to be addressed by the team's management and the other teammates. Cities such as Philadelphia and Toronto have already held "Gay Community Nights" at their ballparks, which is an excellent signal that they are interested in marketing and attracting gay and lesbian fans. Don't expect similar events in the homophobic NBA though.
I used to believe that the risk of losing prospective endorsements would be a major impediment to a gay player's coming out. I think differently now. Not that many players actually have major endorsement deals. Locally, we see the ubiquitous Cal Ripken pitching everything in sight. Of course, Rafael Palmiero (one of those accused of using steroids in the infamous Jose Canseco tell-all), had a national Viagra deal going. I believe he would have stood a greater chance of losing his endorsement contract if it came out that he used steroids than if he came out as gay. (That is not meant to imply he is gay; it is merely to demonstrate the point that certain advertisers would be more sensitive to drug abuse than sexual orientation—especially if the sponsor is Viagra.)
Most other ballplayers don't have local endorsements in tow. Has anyone seen the telegenic Javy Lopez in many commercials? Or Larry Bigbie or Brian Roberts? Not hardly. Therefore, with such a low percentage of baseball players with endorsement deals, a player's coming out of the closet would probably not affect his traditional endorsement prospects since it would be unlikely he would have been offered a deal even if he remained in the closet. Conversely, many gay-friendly companies like Ikea, Pier 1, or Southwest Airlines would literally jump at the chance to have an openly gay player push their products or services.
The main challenge would be dealing with the media and fans. Someone who is tough enough to withstand the taunting and threats would be the ideal candidate. It would also require someone who would have to be, at some level, at peace with himself that coming out would actually be a good thing for him. If he weren't a star player to begin with—an icon—perhaps this revelation would cause people to look up at him. Clearly this would be a big leap—for the player and for the sport. While it is true that many Americans have problems with gays and lesbians, relatively few lack awareness thanks to the emergence of gay characters in our culture and other sources of information. It would not appear so alien as it might have in years past.
The time is right for a ballplayer to come out of the dugout and declare his true self to one and all. The pain baseball is experiencing because of the steroid scandal is far more acute than a player revealing a heretofore hidden part of his persona. The focus will not be on him because the steroids issue is a far greater threat to the game.
Come out and play ball!
Hate Crimes Against Gays Remain a Growing Threat
At a recent meeting I attended, a gay man disputed the proposition that gay people aren't safe on the streets. "I think violence against gays is over-inflated," he claimed with a straight face. "My friends never mention any attacks on gays." He tried to reason, "You go to Fells Point and people are always being beaten and robbed there. They're drunk and vulnerable. It's not against gays."
The sounds in the room immediately following these nutty pronouncements were the sounds of eyes rolling back, heads being scratched and just plain groans. I knew that if glbt folks don't see the dangers, how could we expect our straight legislators to add language that cover murders, assaults, vandalism and other criminal offenses directed towards the glbt community in the Hate Crimes Bill now before the General Assembly?
This gentleman failed to understand that hate crimes are those targeting a community at large with no motive other than hatred. An individual's being attacked simply for being gay or being perceived to be gay is a hate crime. It is accomplished with venom: repeated kicks, punches, swings of a baseball bat rendering the victim unrecognizable, multiple knife stab wounds, every bullet in a shooter's gun is discharged. "This is for all you faggots out there!" Those are hate crimes! A drunken slob being robbed outside a Fells Point pub is completely different. How can you compare?
Clearly, there's some educating that needs to be done.
Hate crimes have existed since man realized other people were different, and then he learned how to hate. These acts are carried out because of revulsion towards a victim's race, religion, national origin, gender, age, political affiliation and yes, sexual orientation.
Matthew Sheppard's brutal beating murder outside Laramie, WY in 1998 put a human face on hate crimes that victimize glbt individuals. Immediately following this tragedy and owing in no small measure to the extraordinary work of Matthew's mother, Judy Sheppard, who addressed the Lobby Day rally in Annapolis last month, there was a groundswell of momentum building to add gays and lesbians to existing federal and statewide hate crime statutes. By covering this group, penalties to the perpetrators would be increased. The inclusion of gays and lesbians in the federal Hate Crime bill is still dangling in Congress.
However, the Maryland General Assembly (House Bill 692 and Senate Bill 578) is considering such action in the current session after it died last year thanks to the maneuvering of homophobic Senator Alex X. Mooney (R-Frederick). Moreover, the bills will also attempt to include "gender identity" since the transgender community is a more vulnerable target and more frequently fail to report such crimes. As reported in the Washington Blade, Sergeant Brett Parson, of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit said, "There is just no protection for transgender people. It's not right, but that's a fact."
This past November the FBI released hate crime statistics compiled for 2003, the latest year such numbers were available. It shows that hate crimes directed towards gays and lesbians accounted for over 16 percent of the total, which ranked second only to race of all criminal offenses motivated by hate. Previously such crimes against gays and lesbians had ranked third—just behind religion. In 2003, there were over 1,400 offenses that targeted gays and lesbians reported with 20 in Maryland alone.
"The new statistics only offer a glimpse of the problem," Cheryl Jacques, former president of the Human Rights Campaign pointed out. "Reporting these crimes is voluntary for local jurisdictions, and hate crimes often go unreported by victims due to fear and stigmatization." And they don't include transgender people.
With venomous anti-gay oratory polluting the air following the Massachusetts same-sex marriage ruling, a further rise in hate crimes against the glbt community is to be expected. Church leaders and extreme right wing conservative politicians and others have defiled gays in such a way as to promote hatred and violence, although they will deny that's their intent. There are thugs out there who will use the Bible and the fiery rhetoric from their religious and political leaders as their justification to slit a gay man's throat.
Equality Maryland, the state's largest civil rights organization for the lgbt community, is fighting hard to gain passage of a strong hate crimes bill. "Violent crime throughout the United States has been declining in recent years, yet hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people continue to rise–and are underreported," said Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland. "Hate crimes laws are important law enforcement and prosecutorial tools which help to address the actions of the perpetrator and prosecute accordingly. An effective response to hate violence by public officials and law enforcement authorities can play an essential role in deterring and preventing these crimes."
To read more about hate crimes and let your representatives know where you stand, visit www.equalitymaryland.org and click on Legislative Center. One can only hope that the fellow from the meeting will take a look and realize that he is also at risk of being a victim whether he is in Fells Point or elsewhere.


text:
Miami Dolphins fire Brian Flores
Washington's Ron Rivera is only Latino NFL head coach
In one of the biggest surprises of Black Monday, Brian Flores lost his job. The Miami Dolphins fired Flores, who was one of only two Latino coaches in the National Football League.
Flores, an Honduran American who was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., coached the Dolphins for the last three years. Flores's firing leaves the Washington Football Team's Ron Rivera as the lone Latino head coach in the NFL.
The Dolphins were 9-8 this season, finishing third in the AFC East behind the New England Patriots (10-7) and Buffalo Bills (11-6).
"I made a decision today to part ways with Brian Flores," Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. "After evaluating where we are as an organization and what we need going forward to improve, I determined that key dynamics of our football organization weren't functioning at a level I want it to be and felt that this decision was in the best interest of the Miami Dolphins."
Third in AFC East not enough
Flores led the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over his three seasons as head coach. After a disappointing 5-11 season in his debut season to finish last in the AFC East, he posted his best record last year at 10-6. Many experts thought Brian Flores did a good job this season.
From Yucatan to NFL history, Natalia Dorantes epitomizes immigrant potential
Top 60 Latinos in Sports
Tom Flores Enshrined in Canton: Not bad for a grape picker
Unfortunately for Flores, the Dolphins' second-place finish in the division wasn't good enough to make the playoffs last year. Miami failed to reach the playoffs during Flores' tenure, extending the Dolphins' playoff drought to five seasons.
"I believe we have a talented young roster in place and have the opportunity to be much better in 2022," Ross said. "I want to thank Brian for his hard work and wish him nothing but the best in his future."
Brian Flores, one of two #Latino head coaches in the @NFL, has been fired by the @MiamiDolphins. pic.twitter.com/jIpPPzj19k
— Our Esquina (@OurEsquina) January 10, 2022
Brian Flores' future may indeed be bright.
Brian Flores shouldn't be unemployed long
He is expected to be a prime candidate to replace one of the other victims of the NFL's Black Monday.
The Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings also fired their head coaches Monday morning. The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer a few weeks ago. Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden resigned in late October, but interim coach Rich Bisaccia may retain the job after leading the team to the playoffs.
According to several experts, Flores stands a good chance of landing one of the current openings.
Baylor's Aranda a name to watch
It may be too early, but Baylor University coach Dave Aranda may also be a good NFL candidate after leading the Bears to the Big 12 title in his second year in Waco, Texas.
Matt Rhule, Aranda's predecessor at Baylor, was hired by the Carolina Panthers after leading the Bears to the Big 12 title game in 2019. Aranda's name came up as a potential candidate for the USC and LSU jobs after the Bears won the Big 12 championship over Oklahoma State.
For now, though, Rivera remains the only Latino head coach in the NFL.
Featured photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images


text:
by Jason Lee Norman
My father always used to say to me, he said "Son" (he called me son) "Son. Falling in love is easy. Getting into the Guinness Book of World Records is hard". So you can imagine my hesitance to tell him that I had fallen in love with a girl who was in the Guiness Book of World Records. Her name was Elaine and she had nearly 7000 piercings- over 200 of which were just in her face. When people saw us together they'd usually comment on how kind and sweet I was to see past the superficialities of her facial and body art and look into the heart and soul of the woman she was. In all honesty I was mainly attracted to her because of the piercings. It felt like I was dating someone from another universe. A place and time where man (or woman) and machine had become one colossal and beautiful being. I loved looking at Elaine. I love being with her.
Traveling through airports was an obvious rush but even around the house we would cuddle up during thunderstorms and her whole body would vibrate and hum with the electricity that surrounded us.
Things eventually ended between us, not because I couldn't get past the piercings but because she ultimately couldn't get past my lack of them. When she touched my face their was no electricity during a thunderstorm and when she ran her fingers across the skin on my arms or legs or back she felt only that- just skin. Something soft, something warm, something that would eventually die. She was beyond those things. All she really cared about was slowly turning herself into a robot or "mecha human" before everyone's eyes and, eventually, living forever.
And then there was Beth. Sweet Beth. In some ways Beth was the complete opposite of Elaine in that not a hint of metal touched her body. Not a stud, bullring or spike had pierced her gentle skin. And what skin it was. Smooth- almost slippery. Like a buttery Popsicle.
Did I mention that Beth was in the Guiness book of records too? She holds the record for the largest single connected tattoo. Just one tattoo that starts from her right toe and travels all the way to the top of her head, back down to her left toe and then the balls of her feet and the same thing on her backside. One single tattoo that took 4 artists, working consecutively, over hundreds of hours to complete. Beth had herself put into a chemically induced coma for these sessions and stayed unconscious for a month and a day. While she recovered the nurses dressed her arms and legs and torso and lathered her in petroleum jelly and at night she slept in a shallow tank of avocado oil.
When I first met Beth it took me three hours just to look over her tattoo (and these were just the parts that were showing). She didn't talk during that time. She didn't need to. In the windy passages on her arms and legs I saw our future together and I knew that it would be a short one but a happy one.
Beth didn't mind that I didn't have a single tattoo but she did find it extremely irritating that I did not hold one single world record and she made it her mission to put my name in that book.
I wore a 37 and a half pound beard of bees for that girl. A beard of bees isn't so much a beard as it is a beard, sweater and vest. They just need to be touching your body for it to count as a 'beard'. The beekeeper said to me 'don't worry. It will only hurt when they sting you.' WHEN?
The beard of bees record depends on the weight of the beard and also the time that you wore it for. Time of year is also a factor. Nobody had ever tried in the winter months so I thought I had a fighting chance.
I wondered if the bees knew that they would die if they stung me. If they knew that I was doing this stunt for love would they feel better in being a part of it. As they stung me I hoped very much that they would lift me up and carry me away somewhere. Perhaps to a big stash of honey. The beekeeper stressed that I needed to remain calm. I tried to ask him if the bees knew they were dying but he couldn't hear me. I didn't get the record and I missed the record for most bee stings by 2. When Beth left me I wasn't sad at all because I had seen it coming. I'd seen our future in the mural that was her body.
Now there is Sarah. And Sarah is beautiful. We like to joke that we met in the dark but it was really just a darkened movie theatre. Right before the coming attractions. I looked over to my right and there she was. I asked if she thought it was weird that when we left the theatre it would be light out. Like how we always just assume it should be dark when the movie's over. Like we had no real idea how much time had passed. She agreed. We agreed on everything. We agreed that even though we loved movies we still always wondered what was happening outside in the daylight. We agreed that it was the strangest if it had rained while we were inside. That the rain would make everything smell clean again and that if we were outside it would make us clean as well.
I like to meet Sarah downstairs when she comes home from the store. I take her bags as we get into the elevator. When we get into the apartment she usually looks tired and sinks into the couch. I tell her that I like her this way. She looks human. Affected by the world. I like watching her put her earrings on. The way she tilts her head as if she's listening to a secret.
By now I've told her all about my world record attempts. I told her I'd do it all again for her. I'd wear a 50 pound beard of bees for you- I told her once. She just smiled as she put on her earrings.
And in the dark was where we found each other and I never have to wear another beard of bees again and when it rains it pours.
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A story about love. And bees.
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Dennis Mahagin, Aug 09, 2011
Excellent story. :)
Jason Lee Norman, Aug 09, 2011
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Las pastillas de freno son un componente de los frenos de disco o de los frenos de llanta, utilizados en automoción y otras aplicaciones. Las pastillas de freno están compuestas por placas de soporte de acero con material de fricción adherido a la superficie que mira hacia los discos del freno de disco o cajas de soporte de acero con material de fricción en los frenos de bicicleta.

Función
Las pastillas de freno convierten la energía cinética de un vehículo en energía térmica a través de la fricción . Dos pastillas de freno están contenidas en el freno con sus superficies de fricción mirando hacia el rotor.  Cuando los frenos se aplican hidráulicamente, la mordaza sujeta o aprieta las dos pastillas contra el rotor giratorio para reducir la velocidad y detener el vehículo. Cuando una pastilla de freno se calienta debido al contacto con el rotor, transfiere pequeñas cantidades de su material de fricción al disco, dejando una capa gris opaca sobre él. La pastilla de freno y el disco (ambos ahora tienen el material de fricción), luego se "pegan" entre sí, proporcionando la fricción que detiene el vehículo.

En los frenos de disco, normalmente hay dos pastillas de freno por rotor de disco. Estos se mantienen en su lugar y son accionados por una pinza fijada al cubo de la rueda o al montante de suspensión . Sin embargo, los calibradores de carreras pueden utilizar hasta seis pastillas, con diferentes propiedades de fricción en un patrón escalonado para un rendimiento óptimo. Dependiendo de las propiedades del material, el peso del vehículo y las velocidades a las que se conduce, las tasas de desgaste del disco pueden variar. Las pastillas de freno generalmente deben reemplazarse regularmente (según el material de la pastilla) para evitar que los frenos se desvanezcan. La mayoría de las pastillas de freno están equipadas con un método para alertar al conductor cuando es necesario hacerlo. Una técnica común es la fabricación de una pequeña ranura central cuya eventual desaparición por desgaste indica el final de la vida útil de una pastilla. Otros métodos incluyen colocar una tira delgada de metal blando en una ranura, de modo que cuando se exponen (debido al desgaste) los frenos chirrían audiblemente. También se puede incrustar una lengüeta de desgaste de metal blando en el material de la pastilla que cierra un circuito eléctrico cuando la pastilla de freno se desgasta, encendiendo una luz de advertencia en el tablero.

Historia
El concepto de pastillas de freno en los frenos de disco como alternativa a los frenos de tambor existía al menos desde una patente de FW Lanchester en 1902.  Sin embargo, debido al alto costo y las ineficiencias en comparación con los frenos de tambor, no se implementaron comúnmente hasta después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial .  Una vez que la tecnología de los frenos de disco mejoró, el rendimiento de los frenos superó rápidamente al de los frenos de tambor. La diferencia de rendimiento se exhibió más notablemente en 1953 cuando un Jaguar equipado con pastillas de freno ganó la carrera del Gran Premio de Resistencia de las 24 Horas de Le Mans .   El éxito del Jaguar se atribuye comúnmente a los frenos de disco del automóvil, que permitieron a los conductores acercarse a las curvas más rápido y frenar más tarde que sus oponentes, lo que finalmente condujo a su victoria. Todavía en 1963, la mayoría de los automóviles que usaban frenos de disco eran de fabricación europea, y los automóviles estadounidenses adoptaron la tecnología a fines de la década de 1960 después de la invención de las pinzas fijas que hicieron que la instalación fuera más económica y compacta.

Tecnología

Ventajas del freno de disco
Los frenos de disco ofrecen un mejor rendimiento de frenado en comparación con los frenos de tambor . Proporcionan una mejor resistencia al " desvanecimiento de los frenos " causado por el sobrecalentamiento de las pastillas de freno y también pueden recuperarse rápidamente de la inmersión (los frenos húmedos son menos efectivos). A diferencia de un freno de tambor, el freno de disco no tiene efecto de autoservo: la fuerza de frenado siempre es proporcional a la presión aplicada en la palanca del pedal de freno. Sin embargo, muchos sistemas de frenos de disco tienen servoasistencia ("Brake Booster") para reducir el esfuerzo del pedal del conductor.

Las pastillas de los frenos de disco son más fáciles de inspeccionar y reemplazar que los forros de fricción de los frenos de tambor.

Tipos

Existen numerosos tipos de pastillas de freno, según el uso previsto del vehículo, desde muy blandas y agresivas (como las aplicaciones de carreras) hasta compuestos más duros, duraderos y menos agresivos. La mayoría de los fabricantes de vehículos recomiendan un tipo específico de pastilla de freno para su vehículo, pero los compuestos se pueden cambiar (ya sea comprando una pastilla de diferente marca o actualizando a una pastilla de alto rendimiento en la gama del fabricante) según los gustos personales y estilos de conducción. Siempre se debe tener cuidado al comprar pastillas de freno no estándar, ya que los rangos de temperatura de funcionamiento pueden variar, por ejemplo, las pastillas de rendimiento no frenan de manera eficiente cuando están frías o las pastillas estándar se desvanecen con la conducción intensa. En los automóviles que sufren de desvanecimiento excesivo de los frenos, el problema se puede minimizar instalando pastillas de freno de mejor calidad y más agresivas.

Materiales
Las características más importantes que se tienen en cuenta a la hora de seleccionar el material de una pastilla de freno son las siguientes:

 La capacidad del material para resistir el desvanecimiento de los frenos, causado por un aumento en la temperatura que experimentará el material a partir de la conversión de energía cinética en energía térmica.
 Los efectos de la humedad en el freno se desvanecen. Todos los frenos están diseñados para soportar al menos una exposición temporal al agua.
 La capacidad de recuperarse rápidamente del aumento de la temperatura o la humedad y exhibir aproximadamente los mismos niveles de fricción en cualquier punto del proceso de secado o enfriamiento.
 El coeficiente de fricción de las pastillas de freno modernas debe ser lo suficientemente bajo para evitar el bloqueo de las ruedas, pero lo suficientemente alto para proporcionar suficiente potencia de frenado. Los coeficientes de fricción suelen estar entre 0,3 y 0,5 para los materiales de las pastillas de freno.
 Se sacrifica la capacidad de resistir el desgaste debido a la fricción, pero no en la medida en que el desgaste del rotor ocurra más rápidamente que el material del freno.
 La capacidad del material para proporcionar un contacto uniforme y uniforme con el rotor o el tambor, en lugar de un material que se rompe en pedazos o causa hoyos, abolladuras u otros daños a la superficie en contacto.
 La capacidad de aplicar la fuerza de fricción adecuada mientras se opera silenciosamente.

Otro requisito material que se considera es qué tan comprimibles son las pastillas de freno; si son demasiado comprimibles, el recorrido del freno puede ser excesivo.  El material de las pastillas de freno también debe ser poroso para que el agua no afecte el coeficiente de fricción.

El asbesto se agregó como un ingrediente común a las pastillas de freno después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, cuando la velocidad de los automóviles comenzó a aumentar, porque las investigaciones demostraron que sus propiedades le permitían absorber el calor (que puede alcanzar los 500 °F) mientras sigue proporcionando la fricción necesaria para detener un vehículo.  Sin embargo, a medida que los graves peligros del asbesto para la salud comenzaron a hacerse evidentes, hubo que encontrar otros materiales. Las pastillas de freno de asbesto han sido reemplazadas en gran medida por materiales orgánicos sin asbesto (NAO) en países del primer mundo.  Hoy en día, los materiales de las pastillas de freno se clasifican en una de las cuatro categorías principales, de la siguiente manera:

 Materiales no metálicos : están hechos de una combinación de varias sustancias sintéticas unidas en un compuesto, principalmente en forma de celulosa, aramida, PAN y vidrio sinterizado. Son cuidadosos con los rotores, pero producen una buena cantidad de polvo, por lo que tienen una vida útil corta.
 Materiales semimetálicos : sintéticos mezclados con proporciones variables de metales en escamas. Estas son más duras que las almohadillas no metálicas, más resistentes a la decoloración y más duraderas, pero a costa de un mayor desgaste del rotor/tambor, que luego debe reemplazarse antes. También requieren más fuerza de accionamiento que las pastillas no metálicas para generar un par de frenado.
 Materiales completamente metálicos : estas almohadillas se usan solo en vehículos de carreras y están compuestas de acero sinterizado sin aditivos sintéticos. Son muy duraderos, pero requieren más fuerza para reducir la velocidad de un vehículo mientras se desgastan más rápido los rotores. También tienden a ser muy ruidosos.
 Materiales cerámicos : compuestos de arcilla y porcelana unida a escamas y filamentos de cobre, son un buen compromiso entre la durabilidad de las almohadillas metálicas, el agarre y la resistencia a la decoloración de la variedad sintética. Su principal inconveniente, sin embargo, es que a diferencia de los tres tipos anteriores, a pesar de la presencia del cobre (que tiene una alta conductividad térmica), las pastillas de cerámica generalmente no disipan bien el calor, lo que puede llegar a provocar que las pastillas u otros componentes de la frenada. sistema para deformar.  Sin embargo, debido a que los materiales cerámicos hacen que el sonido de frenado se eleve más allá del oído humano, parecen excepcionalmente silenciosos.

La resina de fenol formaldehído se utiliza con frecuencia como agente aglutinante . El grafito puede servir como material de fricción y como agente aglutinante.  Otro material de fricción comúnmente utilizado es el silicato de circonio .  Un productor italiano lleva a cabo una investigación para utilizar el cemento como aglutinante barato y que consume menos energía.  La siguiente tabla describe la composición de una pastilla de freno común.

Hay factores ambientales que gobiernan la selección de los materiales de las pastillas de freno. Por ejemplo, el proyecto de ley SSB 6557  adoptado en el estado de Washington en 2010 limita la cantidad de cobre que se permite usar en los materiales de fricción, para que finalmente se elimine a cantidades mínimas, debido al impacto negativo de los altos niveles de cobre en vida acuática. Para su sustitución se han desarrollado diferentes combinaciones de materiales, aunque todavía no se dispone de un sustituto directo.  Se están estudiando otros materiales, como los compuestos hechos con antimonio.

Los vehículos tienen diferentes requisitos de frenado. Los materiales de fricción ofrecen fórmulas y diseños específicos de la aplicación. Las pastillas de freno con un mayor coeficiente de fricción brindan un buen frenado con menos presión en el pedal del freno, pero tienden a perder eficiencia a temperaturas más altas. Las pastillas de freno con un coeficiente de fricción más pequeño y constante no pierden eficacia a temperaturas más altas y son estables, pero requieren una mayor presión en el pedal de freno.

Mantenimiento y solución de problemas
Las pastillas de freno deben revisarse al menos cada 5,000 millas por desgaste excesivo o desigual. Aunque el desgaste de las pastillas de freno es exclusivo de cada vehículo, generalmente se recomienda reemplazar las pastillas de freno cada 50,000 millas.

Los fallos en las pastillas de freno pueden tener muchos efectos en el rendimiento de un vehículo. El siguiente cuadro describe algunos problemas comunes que pueden ser causados por el mal funcionamiento de las pastillas de freno:

Ensayo de materiales
La Oficina Nacional de Normas (NBS) comenzó a probar el material de frenos en los EE. UU. en 1920. Luego, la configuración de prueba se compartió con los fabricantes que los querían para que pudieran comenzar a probar sus propios productos.  Con el tiempo, el NBS continuó desarrollando nuevos instrumentos y procedimientos para probar pastillas y revestimientos, y estos estándares finalmente se convirtieron en los estándares para el Código de seguridad para frenos y pruebas de frenos del Comité de estándares de ingeniería estadounidense.

La prueba SAE J661 se usa para determinar la fricción de diferentes materiales de pastillas de freno probando un disco de  camisa cuadrada con tambor de freno. Esta prueba arroja valores de coeficiente de fricción tanto en caliente como en frío, que luego se combina con una designación de letra. La siguiente tabla describe qué letra corresponde a cada rango para el coeficiente de fricción. Un ejemplo de la designación sería "GD", donde "G" es el coeficiente normal, mientras que "D" representa calentado.

Catalogación
Existen diferentes sistemas para la catalogación de pastillas de freno. El sistema más utilizado en Europa es el sistema de numeración WVA .

El sistema de catalogación utilizado en América del Norte y reconocido en todo el mundo es el sistema de numeración de piezas estandarizado para revestimientos de frenos y embragues emitido por el Friction Materials Standards Institute (FMSI). La misión de FMSI es "Mantener y mejorar este sistema estandarizado de numeración de piezas para todos los vehículos de carretera en uso en América del Norte".

Pastilla de freno de llanta

Es un tipo de pastilla de freno que se utiliza en los frenos de llanta de las bicicletas. Estas pastillas van montadas en un par de cajas rectangulares abiertas que son solidarias de las mordazas de los frenos de bicicleta tradicionales. Las mordazas presionan las pastillas contra la llanta de la rueda para reducir por fricción la velocidad de la bicicleta o detenerla.

Véase también
 Forro de freno
 Freno de carro
 Zapata de freno
 Indicador de desgaste del freno
 Freno motor
 Freno regenerativo

Referencias

Tecnologías del automóvil
Frenos